New Year Treats Part 1: Gingerbread Cookies

Every new year, I make the same old gingerbread cookies. This year has no difference too! The only little difference is the recipe I used. There was an old recipe I used to make every year, and I really don’t know where I found it. But this year,I decided to use the recipe from Joy of Baking and changed a bit, and the results were interesting. I got some very spicy and crispy cookies and everyone liked them!!

Since photos are enough to tell everything, I won’t talk too much this time. Enjoy!!

Gingerbread Cookies

adapted from Joy of Baking

makes “a lot” of cookies (I made 4 mid-size pans of thin cookies with this recipe)

Ingredients:

- 1 egg

- 3 cups whole-wheat flour

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- 2/3 cup molasses

- ½ cup butter

- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon ground ginger

- ¾ teaspoon ground baking soda or baking powder

- ½ teaspoon ground cloves

- a pinch of salt

For the frosting:

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 2-3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Mix together sugar and butter. When you get a smooth cream, add the egg and molasses.

Add the dry ingredients to this mixture, and form a ball.

Let the dough rest for a couple of hours (I made this step faster by forming 3 little and flat balls and keeping them in the freezer for 30 minutes. But be careful not to forget the dough in the freezer!!!!)

Roll out the dough in a preferred height. (Mines were ¼ inches high). If the dough is too sticky, add more flour or powdered sugar (a trick I got from Cafe Fernando)

Cut the dough with your favorite cookie cutters. By the way, heat your oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Bake the ginger cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are brown.

For the frosting, beat the sugar and milk until it gets smooth. With a piping bag, decorate your cookies. I also used the leftover ready-to-use frostings from CO2 cookies I made (You know I don’t prefer ready-to-use stuff!!! I only used the leftovers to finish them!!!)